High-end
properties for much less than you pay in Sydney, New York, Malibu

The rand may have strengthened and overseas property prices may have
fallen, but South African real estate is still the best option for upmarket
investors, says Lew Geffen, chairman of Sotheby's International Realty
in SA.

South African high-end properties are still well priced in world terms
- and that the local market also offers arguably better potential for
gain at the moment than just about any other, because of the country's
relatively stable economy and expanding middle class.

We also have the climate, lifestyle and infrastructure to appeal to the
top echelon of property investors from around the world.

With a global network of offices, Sotheby's International Realty is uniquely
placed to conduct comparative pricing research in the luxury property
sector, and its latest survey reveals, for example, that prime waterfront
properties on Cape Town's Atlantic Seaboard or the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal
can be acquired for less than a third of the cost of similar homes in
Sydney.

The research also shows that for the R1,3m average cost of a tiny studio
flat in central London - a favourite city for SA-based investors - one
could acquire an ultra-modern loft apartment in central Cape Town, or
a three-bedroom apartment right on the beachfront in trendy Sea Point.

Similarly, the R2,6m price of a studio flat in Manhattan, New York would
also buy a two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse in Houghton, one of Johannesburg's
most sought-after addresses, or a three-bedroom house with a separate
cottage in the leafy suburb of Parkhurst.

And while the still-depressed US property market no doubt offers many
excellent properties at bargain' prices, the cost of a three-bedroom
home on the beach in Malibu, California (R14,5m) is still much higher
than that of a brand new architect-designed townhouse on the beach in
Camps Bay (R10m) - or for that matter, a seafront farm in beautiful Plettenberg
Bay (R12m).

Also increasingly popular among investors are income-producing properties
such as guesthouses and lifestyle farms, both of which SA has to offer
at very competitive prices. For example, we are currently marketing a
five-suite guesthouse in Ballito for R4,8m - considerably less than the
cost of a similar property on Siesta Key off Florida in the US (R8m).

As for lifestyle farms, you can buy a small wine estate with a three-bedroom
home in Franschhoek for around R30m, compared to R74m for a similar property
in Napa Valley, the wine-growing area of California."

It is no wonder then, he says, that the demand for SA property continues
to grow among savvy overseas investors - or that many local investors
who might have been expected to respond to the stronger rand by buying
property abroad are once agin starting to accumulate portfolios of SA
real estate instead.